Bekah's Birthday

I turned TWELVE this July!

 My mom, my aunt Amy, and my aunt Amanda made this awesome Hogwarts cake for my birthday!

 Me posing with my Harry potter figures, and silly Beau!!!

 Swimming in the pool in St. George on my birthday. We swam for three or four hours.

I had a Harry Potter themed birthday party. We made potions, aka shower gel

 Here a am sitting in my throne after opening presents with my friends.

 We played played pin the scar on Harry Potter and I think my friend Zaida won.

 My mom helped me make a Harry Potter shirt, and my friends gave me a few Beanie Boos
Left to right: Bubbles, Sammy, and Ollie.

 We had cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. It was awesome!!!

It was an AMAZING birthday, and I love being twelve!!!

Beau's Birthday and Baptism

Beau turned EIGHT this July!

He is loving all things minion. 

 He is a pretty super kid with awesome super powers like the ability to speak with all sorts of different goofy accents, super strength and endurance, velcro-like stick-to-it abilities, and a cheerful smile that makes grown women melt. (At least I do.)

We celebrated with a party with his friends, but on his actual birthday I think we had ice cream...

One of his birthday gifts was a Lego helicopter set. He spent quite a while building this and became very proficient at deciphering the instructions; add that to his list of super powers!

We decided to throw a "Minion: How to Be a Villain" Party for Beau. We had minion themed food...

...An Evil Photo booth (where you could rob a bank. Or dress up as Davy Crockett robbing a bank with a PVC gun...)

Bruce was the photographer. He was divine.

I borrowed a couple of bags of wigs and masks and fun accessories from a friend and the boys had to dress up as a villain for the photo booth. Some of them were naturally villainous and didn't need any costumes.
Back row: Isaac, Lucas, Beau, Cameron
Front row: Kalani, Kai, Ben, Wesley

 Later they were all able to make PVC marshmallow shooters and have a marshmallow war. We took them all to the park, let them out, and 39 seconds later the heavens opened with a massive thunderstorm. We rounded them up, now soaking wet, and headed home to have an indoor marshmallow war, led by General Rus Payne.
Rus was a terrific party entertainer for this group of boys! My favorite part was when it was time to open the presents. He made each boy tell Beau how they had stolen their gifts and where they had stolen them from. They came up with EXCELLENT stories! This is a blurry Beau, aka, King Bob, listening to one of the stories.

Beau chose to wait to be baptized until September with his cousin Ben. I had a lot of fun shopping for a suit with him! He's such a handsome little gentleman!

 The primary president in my ward is a wonderful photographer, and as a gift to each of the kids who turn eight, she takes them to the temple and does a photo shoot with them. These pictures were actually taken right around his birthday in July.

I love how EXCITED he is here! This is an accurate depiction of the enthusiasm he had for being baptized.

 The day of the baptism was September 3rd. We decided to do it out in Edgewood because then we wouldn't be a part of the stake baptisms in my stake. It was awesome to do it with family in Edgewood, but I have to admit that we were a little disappointed that none of our friends made the 30 minute drive to celebrate with us.
These are the THREE AMIGOS! Ben is on the left, Russel in the center, and Beau on the right. Ben's mom Carla made all of the boys orange bow ties!

 My favorite little niece gave me the best kisses while we were there!

 Beau was baptized by his dad.

Beau's Nana gave a talk about baptism. My dad gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. Bekah played "Faith" on her violin, accompanied by Carla on the piano, with Libby, Zaya, Emma, and a couple of Emma's cousins singing.
 I am so proud of Beau and the choice he made to be baptized!

Beau said the best part of that day was getting baptized and hanging out with the three amigos!

Fourth of July Lordsburg 2016

I have spent some of my best Independence days in Lordsburg, NM, and this year was no exception! 

We were so happy that Emilee and Chip were able to come down from Utah for the holiday. We were so happy that we ambushed them with water balloons the moment they showed up! We left some balloons on the side of the road for them to make it a fair fight.

 And as with all Payne family fights, at some point someone took it too far and got hurt...Bekah ran into Spencer's hard head (he's the one on Doug's shoulders) and banged her front tooth.

We went to the city pool on the fourth of July because they open it up for free that day...and because we love it! It has a slide and it's not too crowded. It also has a beach entrance so Marianne took off her life jacket and swam around under the water with her goggles almost the whole time. I love seeing my kids love swimming!
I took my face paints to the fireworks so I could give everyone a little red, white, and blue. Doesn't this picture just have summer written all over it?

 Emilee had a little girl time with the little girls. She has the BEST nail stuff! She even did mine - my first set of gel nails!

 Roger planted a two acre farm this year. The first day when we came in it was flooded, but it drained out pretty quickly. One of the days we helped him and Louise plant dozens of tomato plants. One of the nights Carla, Doug, Emilee, Chip, Rus and I went rabbit hunting at the farm. The rabbits were eating up everything that was coming up. Rus and Doug shot a few rabbits and I shot my first rabbit!

Oh I love this family!



Even if they're a little crazy! (Well maybe because they're a little crazy...)

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June in Chandler with the Family

This past June I went to visit my family in Chandler and Mesa, Arizona. My niece Madison had had back surgery in May for scoliosis, my sister Amanda (Madison's mom) was still recovering from a broken ankle that had required surgery, and my parents had bought a house across the street from her and were (of course!) fixing it up. My plan was to come and play and entertain my sister's kids while she worked during the day.

It is HARD to find things to do when the temperature outside averages 110! The first thing we did was go bowling! From the left: Jacob, Bekah, Madison, Hayden, Beau, and Marianne.

 I really loved seeing my sister Amanda! She and my mom had taken in Bekah for two weeks while I was at girl's camp with Rus. Bekah had wanted to go to Amanda's early to spend time with Madison while she recovered from her surgery.

 Another day trip we took was to Ikea. I love Ikea! The kids were not super impressed - truth be told they are a lazy bunch and would rather spend all day playing video games. As I am against wasting time with video games, I bribed them with an Ikea lunch...and I came up with an Ikea scavenger hunt in which the winner got a prize. It kept them busy for over an hour...and they put a couple miles on walking all over Ikea to find the things on their hunt.
Yes that is a real live tree Jacob purchased an is hugging.

 We celebrated Father's day with my dad while we were there. Tyler, Gina and Layton came over too. Tyler always grows facial hair for Father's day...

 Layton endured most of the attention given him by the adoring Marianne...

My dad really wanted cherry pie. So that's what we made him.

 We headed out to the park at about 8pm...that's when the temperature drops closer to 100 degrees so it's not completely unbearable. Preston is holding Marianne. She LOVES her big boy cousins!

 I love, adore, admire, respect, and honor my dad!

 And he couldn't be as terrific as he is without my mother!

It was a beautiful night! The temple and the moon in the same shot!!

 This picture was moments before the crew decided to lure ducks out of the water to try to put grass leashes on them...they were unsuccessful.

 One thing we thought would work great in all that intense heat was a pizza solar oven. I think it would have worked if we hadn't tried something so ambitious. Thinner cookies would have been a good idea...

Another field trip we took was to the lego store at the mall. The kids were super excited to go to the store, and then super disappointed that everything was so expensive. Marianne liked trying on these tentacles at the aquarium gift shop across the mall.

 Who wouldn't want to spend time with these awesome boys?!

 That is a lego sculpture in the background! How awesome would it be to have that for your job?!

 The kids and I took a day to go see the Hartmans. We saw Clay and Mary...

 And Tom and Suzi's not so new baby Spencer - the chubbiest, happiest baby you've ever seen!

Tom and Suzi have a pool - a MUST in that crazy heat! Silvia brought her kids to swim with us while we were there.

 We were also able to meet up with Silvia Hartman and her kids at a swimming pool. Did you know when it's 120 degrees you don't really need a towel? The water just sizzles off of you in a few minutes...
The last thing we did before heading home was a little tie-dye project. We all made fourth of July shirts. Here's Preston with his.

 And Madison with hers

And all of them out on the line:

It was an excellent trip! I love spending time with my family!